Bhubaneswar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Crime Branch arrested a man from West Bengal for allegedly running ponzi scheme through his Nidhi firm in Odisha.
The accused Tusar Bhanjo was arrested from his house at Haridevpur PS area, Kolkata and produced in a local court. He was brought to Bhubaneswar on transit remand. He was produced before the designated Court under OPID Act in Cuttack today
The EOW arrested him after registering a case based on a complaint filed by a Bhubaneswar resident named Manmohan Dora.
The accused Tushar Bhanjo was running his Ponzi firm, Harit Krishi Nidhi Ltd, M/s Transvision Dream Multi Trade Pvt. Ltr being its director. He allegedly induced Dora and many other investors to invest with his company for high returns like monthly interest of 11% on the invested amount apart from 4-5 % extra commission on adding new members.
The Company also promised to provide a monthly salary of Rs.4,000 on investment of Rs 4 lakhs, Rs.8,000 on investment of Rs.8 lakhs and so on. In order to induce the investors, Tushar Bhanjo used social media, leaflets, brochures and physical meetings.
Being induced, Dora joined the Harit Krishi Nidhi Company as a member by depositing Rs.4,000 in the year 2023. Subsequently, he deposited Rs 2 lakhs in the Company’s bank account after which he was able to open three wallet IDs in which he had deposited total Rs.2.17 lakhs and got 11% interest only for one month. Thereafter, no amount was paid to him by the accused.
Director Tusar Bhanjo absconded with the invested amount of thousands of investors.
In violation of the Nidhi rules, he opened the offices of the Nidhi Company in Odisha, Chhattishgarh, Assam etc. whereas the Nidhi Company cannot operate beyond the State of its incorporation. Further, chit fund activities although are prohibited in Nidhi Company, he ran the Ponzi scheme by inducing the investors and promising them higher interest apart from offering substantial commission for arranging new investors
He collected more than Rs.123 Cr. from around 34,000 investors of Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattishgarh, Assam, Tripura, Maharashtra and even of Bangladesh. After paying some few promised initial return at 11% per month, he absconded with the collected amount.
